In The Owl's Talon
by EmrysTheMerlin
Summary: They said it was a legend, they were wrong. When the organization the runs Gothams underground surfaces how will the team handle themselves? When Robin is taken by the Court Of Owls the team will have to deal with the probability that she is never coming back. And who is the courts newest Talon, assigned to take them all down no matter the cost? Fem Robin (Diane Grayson)
1. Slipping

**Author's Note: This little gem grew in my brain after doing some research on Nightwing/Robin/Dick Grayson. I ran across the Court of Owls in my research and the theory (Can't seem to find any actual cannon evidence that this happens. If it's out there let me know) that Dick, or in this case Diane, was supposed to become a Talon for the Court. This idea has taken hold and is refusing to let me go. So here it is. This takes place in the five year period between seasons one and two. This is about a year after season ended. I own nothing please review.**

In The Owl's Talon

1. Slipping

The Injustice League wasn't supposed to be here in Gotham on a routine patrol. Batman was away on a league mission and they had no one they could call for help. They were getting their asses handed to them by the combined force of seven heavy hitters plus Bane and Harley Quinn. Zatana was already down, unconscious due to one of Wotan's spells. Miss Martian and Superboy were taking on Atomic Skull and Ultra Huminite and not doing well. Aqualad was bleeding heavily, Artemis was trying to stay out of range of Harley's hammer while Kid Flash and Rocket teamed up against Black Atom and Count Vertigo. That left Robin on her own against Bane, Ivy and the Joker. She was actually doing pretty well until she missed her landing as Rocket screamed falling out of the sky. Robin slipped and caught a vine to the side. It grabbed hold around her around her utility belt cutting her off from her equipment.

She grunted as Wally tried to get to her but was smacked into a wall by Bane. He slid down it unconscious. M'ggan screamed as she was struck by one of Atomic Skulls blasts. Superboy roared but was knocked down along with Artemis and Aqualad by Count Vertigo. They passed out as Ivy brought Robin closer to the Joker.

The Joker cackled loudly as Robin struggled against the vine around her waist. Harley wandered to his side and draped herself against him.

"Aww look at the pretty Birdie Mister J!" The Joker grinned manically running a hand up Harley's side.

"He'll be even prettier covered in blood Harley!" Harley giggled clinging to the Jokers arm as he pulled out a knife with the other. Bane laughed.

"Será bueno volver a la Bat quitándole su pájaro." Ivy grinned and the vine squeezed hard making Robin cry out.

"Poor little birdie, should we put him out of our misery?" Ivy grinned as the non Gotham villains gathered the other teen heroes in a rather undignified pile. The Joker cackled.

"I call carving rights!" He moved forward knife in hand. Robin closed her eyes but the blow never came. She peeked at the villains in front of her to find that the non Gotham villains were all on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. The Gotham villains were looking up at the scaffolding of the warehouse terror in their eyes. Even the Jokers smile had slipped. Robin couldn't move around to see what they were looking at but she could hear the voice, distorted and loud behind and above her.

"Temp not the Owls, they hold the city in their hand. Fear the Owls, they are the true night. Touch not that which belongs to the Owls, or lose the harming hand." The knife clattered to the floor. Something struck Robin in the neck and her vision spun. The world went grey as the villains ran. She tried to turn her head as someone walked up to her. She saw an empty white mask with deep black eyes. As her vision tunneled someone tilted her head up.

"Little Robin watched over Gotham city just like a good boy should. But soon the little Robin will be taken by the Owls, to become what she truly should be." Robin could barely feel the needle that pierced her skin as her world went black.

Gordon found them a few hours later and took them to the station as quietly as possible before turning on the Batsignal. Batman arrived ten minutes later and picked up the still unconscious teens in the Batjet before flying it to Mount Justice and dumping all nine teen heroes in the med bay. He was both angry and worried as the team began to stir. Robin was out cold. He had found a dart in her neck, he had it in the lab where he was planning to analyze it later but he was too busy right now calming down the team. They were panicked because the last thing they had seen was Robin being menaced by the Joker. Once they were assured that Robin was fine the questions started. Only to be cut off abruptly by Robin groaning and sitting up.

"What happened?" Batman raised an eyebrow.

"That's what we were counting on you telling us. What do you remember?" Robin shook her head.

"Not much. Ivy had me caught, I was sloppy. The Joker was flirting with Harley while talking about ways to carve me up. Then everything went fuzzy. I think there was someone else there but I can't remember. It's all fuzzy." Batman nodded.

"You were drugged. Dart to the neck. Not the accounted for villains MO. Not the way it was done anyway. It wasn't deadly so it's not the Joker." Robin nodded rubbing her neck.

"Rohypnol?" Batman nodded.

"Most likely." Artemis stared.

"How do you know that!?" Robin grinned slightly.

"Cause I've been dosed with pretty much everything in the book. I know what it feels like." Artemis rolled her eyes at the young hero as Zatana fussed. Artemis knew Zatana would be disappointed soon when she discovered that her Boy Wonder was not a boy at all. Robin was running a hand over her arm.

"What's wrong?" Batman grabbed her arm and examined it. It took him about two seconds to find the other puncture wound on the inside of Robin's elbow. He was kicking himself for not noticing it earlier. He quickly grabbed a syringe off of the table next to him and drew a blood sample from the same arm she had been rubbing. Something was off here and he was going to find out what. He took the sample and headed towards the door.

"Robin you are on medical lockdown until further notice, the rest of you are free to go." He left before Robin could protest.

**Translations**

**Thank google translate**

Será bueno volver a la Bat quitándole su pájaro. **(Spanish) **

**It will be good to get back at the Bat by taking away his bird.**


	2. Ghost Stories

**Author's Note: I own nothing, including the nursery rhyme in this one. No that along with all these characters belongs to DC comics. Please review. **

2. Ghost Stories

Robin was beyond pissed. She was fine, pretty much everyone else was injured but she was fine. She felt no different than she ever did. Her head was still a bit fuzzy from the dart to the neck but other than that there was nothing different. But that worried her. She had been at the mercy of four of the deadliest villains to ever run in Gotham and she came away without a scratch, but not through her own skill. Something had spooked all four villains, even the Joker and that was not even easily said. The Joker didn't scare.

"So why am I still alive?" Robin muttered to herself as she sat on the exam table. Zatana was reading one of her spell books in one of the chairs. She looked up at him.

"What was that?" Robin shook her head.

"Nothing. Hey Zee do you mind? I should change into my civvies." Zatana grinned.

"I don't mind." Robin rolled her eyes, she was seriously gonna have to find a way to put Zatana off without hurting her feelings. She didn't want to lose Zatana as a friend but Zee had caught her off guard with that kiss on New Years. She hadn't planned for any of that. Someone loving Robin had never been on the books before, not where anyone could do anything about it at least. That had all changed now. Robin wasn't too fond of change, it made everything so complicated.

"I do Zee. I just need a minute ok?" Zatana winked and nodded standing up and heading for the door.

"Alright but no breaking any Bat rules, I don't wanna get in trouble with Bat's." Robin grinned.

"If I wanted to do that I'd just show him that footage I lifted from the Harm incident." Zatana stared for a moment before grinning widely.

"Artemis was right, you really do know everything." The door had barely closed behind her when Robin was up and moving, but not to the pile of clothes on the table by the bed. She headed instead for the computer situated at the end of the room. It was set up like the rest of the computers in the cave and therefore connected to them, but Robin needed it to herself for a little while. It was a simple matter for her to isolate the computer and hack into the Batcave from there. She pulled up a few files searching each one for a keyword.

Owls.

Nothing, there was nothing anywhere. No mention of owls anywhere even in the penguins file. That seemed to be the only bird he avoided. It was strange. She growled in frustration. She couldn't get that word out of her head. Owls, why owls? She did a database search for them, nothing. Finally she got silly and did an internet search for owls and Gotham. The first few sites were all about night flying birds but the fifth one Robin came across was a conspiracy theory website. She glossed over most of it until she came to an old Gotham nursery rhyme.

_Beware the Court of Owls, that watches all the time._

_Ruling Gotham from a shadowed perch, behind granite and lime._

_They watch you at your hearth, they watch you in your bed._

_Speak not a whispered word of them, or they'll send the Talon for your head._

"Well that's not creepy at all." Robin said rolling her eyes at the creepy nursery rhyme. But hang on a second, she remembered something. Someone, a voice she didn't recognize speaking of owls before she had felt the dart in her neck. She pulled off her mask and looked at it for a moment before nodding and hooking up the tiny camera to her wrist computer. She snatched her sunglasses off the pile of clothes and slid them on before continuing, force of habit by now. She pulled up the footage from the fight and skipped ahead to when she had been caught. The villains were terrified. She boosted the audio as much as possible.

_"__Tempt not the Owls, they hold the city in their hand. Fear the Owls, they are the true night. Touch not that which belongs to the Owls, or lose the harming hand." _The dart had hit just about then but the camera was still active. There was a figure just out of sight but the face was easier to make out. A mask of pure white, with pitch black holes for eyes.

_"__Little Robin watched over Gotham city just like a good boy should. But soon the little Robin will be taken by the Owls, to become what she truly should be."_ Robin stepped back a bit as the blank black eyes stared into her soul and quickly shut off the footage. She needed Batman to see this.


End file.
